Comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear

ABSTRACT

A comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear is provided to reduce pressure and discomfort imposed to wearers by the underwear&#39;s boning members such as metal wires and plastic bones. The comfortable bone-affixing structure includes a continuous flexible tube made of fabric and a cushion fixedly attached to a channel portion of the flexible tube when the flexible tube is a single layer tube or to one of layers of the flexible tube when the flexible tube has a multi-layer scroll-like vertical section. In the bone-affixing structure, the boning member is received in a space that is within the flexible tube and adjacent to or separated from the cushion. With the cushion that separates the boning member from the wearer&#39;s skin, the pressure and discomfort imposed to the wearer by the boning member can be reduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to structures for affixing supportivebones to underwear, and more particularly, to a comfortablebone-affixing structure containing therein a cushion for mitigatingdiscomfort caused by boning members to underwear wearers.

2. Description of Related Art

Underwear and brassieres are designed to provide the wearers withphysiological support and aesthetic enhancement. The modern underwearand brassieres typically include plural boning members, such asunderwires under bra cups, plastic side bones beside bra cups andsupportive shaping bones defining a corslet. These boning members serveto shape the wearers curves at their breasts and torso portions.

The foregoing boning member is typically made of a non-fabric materialthat is relatively rigid and then externally attached to the underwear.Thus, it is difficult to directly sew the boning member onto theunderwear. Instead, the boning member has to be first covered by fabricand then affixed to the underwear by sewing the fabric onto theunderwear, causing the manufacturing process complicated. Forfacilitating attachment of boning members, there has been developed abone-affixing structure, which is mainly a tube made of fabric. In use,the fabric-made bone-affixing structure can be easily sewn on tounderwear and then a boning member can be fitted into the bone-affixingstructure.

While the conventional bone-affixing structure does being helpful to thecombination between boning members and underwear, it leaves the problemthat the rigid boning member can press and discomfort the wearer's skinunsolved. Hence, the relevant improvement is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the shortcomings of the conventional bone-affixing structurefor underwear as described above, the present invention herein providesa comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear, which serves toreduce the pressure and discomfort imposed on the wearer's skin by rigidboning members.

A preferred structure of a comfortable bone-affixing structure forunderwear proposed by the present invention to address theaforementioned need comprises a flexible tube that is made of fabric andhas a continuous length, wherein the flexible tube contains therein atleast one space for accommodating a boning member; and a cushion fixedlydeposited in an interior of the flexible tube. The comfortablebone-affixing structure for underwear as described above in virtue ofthe cushion can prevent the boning member from directly pressing on thewearer's skin, thereby reducing the pressure imposed to the wearer'sskin by the boning member, in turn eliminating or mitigating discomfortgenerated on the wearer's skin.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the flexible tube including two joint edges, and has oneside of the cushion attached to the two joint edges.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the flexible tube including two joint edges that are sewntogether to form the flexible tube having a sewing seam, and has thecushion fixedly attached to the interior wall of the flexible tube at aposition opposite to the sewing seam.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the cushion fixedly attached to a piece of fabric, andthen fixedly deposited in an interior of the flexible tube through thefabric; and preferably has the flexible tube having two joint edgescombined with two edges of the fabric on which the cushion is attachedby sewing.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the cushion fixedly attached to a piece of fabric, andthen fixedly deposited in an interior of the flexible tube through thefabric; and preferably has the flexible tube having a vertical sectionof a scroll-like shape, and has an outer joint edge of the flexibletube, one edge of the fabric on which the cushion is attached, and alateral of the flexible tube combined together by sewing.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the cushion fixedly attached to a piece of fabric, andthen fixedly deposited in an interior of the flexible tube through thefabric; and preferably has the flexible tube having a vertical sectionof a scroll-like shape with plural layers, and having the cushiondeposited on one of the layers that is different from a said layercontaining the space receiving the boning member.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the cushion made of silicone resin, rubber, plastic foammaterial, polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) orthermoplastic rubber (TPR).

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovepreferably has the boning member installed into the bone-affixingstructure including an underwire under a bra cup of the underwear, aplastic side bone adjacent to the bra cup of the underwear and asupportive shaping bone of a torso potion of the underwear.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described abovecan be used as a shoulder strap of underwear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives andadvantages thereof will be best understood by reference to the followingdetailed description of illustrative embodiments when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a section of comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear according to a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear according to a second preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear according to a third preferred embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear according to a fourth preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are applied views showing the disclosed comfortablebone-affixing structure for underwear combined with boning members andattached to brassieres; and

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 8A and 8B are applied views showing the disclosedcomfortable bone-affixing structure used on different portions ofunderwear.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, according to a first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, a comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwearcomprises a flexible tube 10 made of fabric. The flexible tube definestherein a space 40 for accommodating a boning member (such as anunderwire under a bra cup, a plastic side bone adjacent to a bra cup anda supportive shaping bone of a corslet), similar to that of theconventional bone-affixing structure for underwear. The innovativefeature of the present invention is having a cushion 20 that is fixedlydeposited in an interior of the flexible tube 10.

The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear as described inthe first preferred embodiment has the flexible tube 10 being a tubularstructure formed by rolling up a piece of fabric 11. Therefore, theflexible tube 10 has two joint edges 12. In the present embodiment, thetwo joint edges 12 are combined with the cushion 20 by adherence,respectively, so that the cushion 20 is fixedly attached to the channelportion of the flexible tube 10 and the tubular structure of theflexible tube 10 is formed at the same time.

As shown in FIG. 2, in a second preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear,different from its counterpart in the first preferred embodiment, hasthe cushion 20 directly attached to the fabric 11 at a position oppositeto the sawing seam 13 between the two joint edges 12 of the flexibletube 10.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. In the comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear as described in the first and second preferredembodiments, the cushion 20 is directly attached to the fabric 11 of theflexible tube 10. However, in the third and fourth preferred embodimentsof the present invention, the cushion 20 of the comfortablebone-affixing structure is first fixedly attached to another piece offabric 30 that is not the one forming the flexible tube 10, and then thefabric 30 is combined with the channel portion of the flexible tube 10.The combination may be achieved by sewing the two edges 31 of the fabric30 and the two joint edges 12 of the flexible tube 10 together (thethird preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3), or by rolling up thefabric 11 to form the flexible tube 10 of a multi-layer scroll-likeshape and sewing the outer joint edge 12, one lateral of the flexibletube 10 and an edge 31 of the fabric 30 carrying the cushion 20 togetherby forming a sewing seam 14, as shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, for using the bone-affixing structure ofthe first through fourth preferred embodiments, a suitable length of theflexible tube is attached to the body of the underwear 60 by sewing orheat sealing, and then a boning member 50 is installed in to the space40 inside the flexible tube 10 and adjacent to the cushion 20 (FIG. 5).Alternatively, the cushion 20 and the boning member 50 are separated anddeposited at different layers (FIG. 6), and the disclosed bone-affixingstructure is such used that the side having the cushion 20 faces thewearer's skin 70, so that when the underwear 60 is worn, the boningmember 50 is separated from directly contacting the wearer's skin 70 bythe cushion 20, thereby leaving the wearer's skin free from pressure anddiscomfort.

Please refer to FIGS. 7A and 7B. In addition to being used withunderwire under a bra cup 81, the comfortable bone-affixing structurefor underwear as described above can work with a plastic side boneadjacent to a bra cup 82 or supportive shaping bone 83 of a corslet. Inaddition, in the comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear asdescribed above, when the accommodating space is not installed with theboning member, the comfortable bone-affixing structure can be used as ashoulder strap 84 for underwear (as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B), so thatthe cushion in the comfortable bone-affixing structure can reduce thepressure imposed on the wearer by the shoulder strap.

The present invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiments and it is understood that the embodiments are not intendedto limit the scope of the present invention. Moreover, as the contentsdisclosed herein should be readily understood and can be implemented bya person skilled in the art, all equivalent changes or modificationswhich do not depart from the concept of the present invention should beencompassed by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A comfortable bone-affixing structure forunderwear, the bone-affixing structure comprising a flexible tube thatis made of fabric and has a continuous length, wherein the flexible tubecontains therein at least one space for accommodating a boning member,and being characterized in: a cushion, fixedly deposited in an interiorof the flexible tube.
 2. The comfortable bone-affixing structure forunderwear of claim 1, wherein the flexible tube has two joint edges, andone side of the cushion is attached to the two joint edges.
 3. Thecomfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear of claim 1, whereinthe flexible tube has two joint edges that are sewn together to form theflexible tube having a sewing seam, and the cushion is fixedly attachedto the interior wall of the flexible tube at a position opposite to thesewing seam.
 4. The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear ofclaim 1, wherein the cushion is fixedly attached to a piece of fabric,and then fixedly deposited in the interior of the flexible tube throughthe fabric.
 5. The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear ofclaim 4, wherein the flexible tube has two joint edges, and the twojoint edges are combined with two edges of the fabric on which thecushion is attached by sewing.
 6. The comfortable bone-affixingstructure for underwear of claim 4, wherein the flexible tube has avertical section of a scroll-like shape, while an outer joint edge ofthe flexible tube, one edge of the fabric on which the cushion isattached, and a lateral of the flexible tube are combined together bysewing.
 7. The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear ofclaim 1, wherein the flexible tube has a vertical section of ascroll-like shape with plural layers, and the cushion is deposited onone of the layers.
 8. The comfortable bone-affixing structure forunderwear of claim 7, wherein the cushion and the space foraccommodating the boning member are deposited on different said layers.9. The comfortable bone-affixing structure for underwear of claim 1,wherein the cushion is made of silicone resin, rubber, plastic foammaterial, polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) orthermoplastic rubber (TPR).
 10. The comfortable bone-affixing structurefor underwear of claim 1, wherein the boning member is an underwireunder a bra cup of the underwear, a plastic side bone adjacent to thebra cup of the underwear or a supportive shaping bone of a torso potionof the underwear.
 11. A shoulder strap for underwear, wherein theshoulder strap comprises the comfortable bone-affixing structure ofclaim 1.